The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-03-10


haps at tho inperiling Of his own life! How
We ought to feel towards Christ tho captain
Of salvation, on the white horse riding down
CUR foes but in the moment he made tho
victorious charge, the lances of death struck
him
There was a very touching scene among an
Indian tribe in the last century. 1t seemed
that one of the cheftains had slain man be-
longing to an opposite tribe, and that tribe
came up and said: 1--WE will exterTninate you
unless you surrender the man who committed
that crime" The chioftain who did the
crime stepped out from the ranks and said:
81 am not afraid to die, but l have a wife
end four children, and have father aged
and mother aged, whom I support by
hunting, and l sorrow to leave them
helpless" Just as he said that his
old father from behind stepped out
and said: "IIe shall not die. l take his
place | am old and well stricken in years
| can do no good. l might as well die. My
days are almost over. He cannot be spared.
Take me-" And they accepted the sacrifice.
Wonderful sacrifice! you say, but not SO
wonderful as that found in the Gospel, for
we deserved to die, aye, we were sentenced
when Christ, not worn out with years but in
the flush of his youth, said: "Save that man
L
som. Put his burdens on my shoulders. Let
his stripes fall on my back. Take
my heart for his heart. Let me die that he
may live" Shall st be told to-day in Heaven
that notwithstanding all those wounds, and
all that blood, and all those tears and all that
agony you would not accept him7
Was it for crimes that had done,
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown,
And love beyond degree.
There is no woe amid the surroundings of
that scene that impresses me moro than that
that Of his own mother. You need not point
her out to me. I can see by the SORROW the
the anguish, the woe, by the upthrown hands.
That all means mother. "Oh," you say, "why
didn't she 90 down to the foot of the hill and
sit with her back to the scenel 1t was too
horrible for her to look upon" Do you not
know when a child is in anguish or trouble
it always makes a heroine of q mother2 Take
her away, you say, from the cross. You can
not drag her away. She will keep on look
ing As long as her son breathes she will
stand there looking. Oh, what a scene
it was for a tender hearted mother
to look upon! How gladly she would
have sprung to his relief! 1t was
her son. Her sonl How gladly she would
utLNc CldlUDeIGu up Oh LlS Cross anu nung
there herself if her son could have been re-
lieved How strengthening she would have
been to Christ if she might have come close
by him and soothed him! Oh, there was a
good deal in what the little sick child said,
upon whom a surgical operation of a painful
nature must be performed. The doctor said:
"That child won't live through this operation
unless you encourage him. You go in and
get his consent" The father told him all the
doctor said, and added: "Now, John, will you
go through with it? VIII you consent to it?n
He looked very pale, and he thought
minute, and said: eyes, father, if you will hold
my hand, will" So the father held his hand,
and led him straight through the peril Oh,
woman, in your hour of anguish, whom do
you want with you? Mother. Young man,
in your hour of trouble, who do you want to
console you? Mother. If the mother of
Jesus could only have taken those bleeding
feet into her 1ap If she might have taken
the dying head on her bosom! II she might
have said to Him: "It will soon be over
Jesus; it will soon be over, und we will meet
again and it will be all we'll" But no. she
dared not come up SO close. They would
have struck her back with their hammers.
They would have kicked her down the hill.
There can be 10 alleviation at ALL Jesus
must suffer and Mary must look l suppose
she thought of the birth hour in Bethlehem
! / suppose she thought Of the time when with
| her boy in her bosom she hastened on in the
darkness in the fight towards Egypt. I sup
pose she thought of bis boyhood, when he
was the joy OF her heart. 1 suppose she
| thought of the thousand kindnesses he had
done her, not forsaking her or forgetting her,
even in his last moment, but turning to John
end saying: There is mother; take her with
you She is old now. She cannot help her.
self Do for her just as would have done
| for her if 1 had lived. Be very tender and
| gentle with her. Behold thy motherl" She
thought it all over, and there is no memory
ike mothers memory and there is no woe
like mothers woe.
remark again. This Is tender scene be-
cause it is q Christian reunion Why was it
nat in the sessional meeting, when l asked a
woman if it were her son who sat next to her,
making profession Of his faith, she made no
answer; but after q moment, trying to con-
troll her emotion she burct into tears. I said
| within myself, she need not tell mo the story.
1t is the old story Of a prodigal got back.
| "The dead is alive, and the lost is found" Oh,
how many families there are that rejoice to-
gether to-day.
These Christians during the rest of the year,
perhaps, will not know much about each
other. You go in one circle Of society, these
go in some other circle of society, and this
one travels in that path and this one tho
other path; but to-day we all como on ono
platform, and we make one confession and
we cling to one cross and we gaze upon ono
death anguish. 1t seems to me this morning
| not like church, but like great family, circle,
and we join hands around the cross of Chri-
| and we say "One lord, ono faith, one bap-
tisln, one cross, one Christ, one doxology, one
heaven." While stand hero it seems to me as
if this communion table, which is only seven
or eight feet long, and three Or four feet
wide, widens until all the Christians Of our
own denomination can sit at it; and still the
table widens until all the Christians in this
land of all names and denominations come
and sit at it; and still the table widens until
it bridges the sea, and Christians on the
other side OF the Atlantic come and sit at
it; and still that table widens, until the re-
de6med of heaven mingle in the communion.
Church militant, church triumphant.
One army of the living God
To His command we bow,
Part of the host have crossed the flood,
And part crossing now.
Again, my friends, this is an absorbing
scene, because it arouses SO many precious
memories. We look back and remember the
days of our childhood when, long before we
knew the meaning of the bread and the wine,
we sat il the side pews on sacramental days
or in the galleries, and looked as our fathers
mothers and older brothers and sisters sat al
the communion. Or, if we sat with them, we
pulled at mothers dress and said:
'What does that mcan2 What is that in
the cups What is that on the plate" O.
yes; we remember those sacranental days OF
our boyhood. We remember how much
more tender father was on that day than OF
any other day. We remember how mother
stood, and without saying one word looked
at us, and her eyes got full of tears Oh, the
dear cid soul! They have gonel But unit
the day of our death we will associate this
holy ordinance with their memory. Ant
when our work on earth is done we will just
go up and sit down beside them in the
ri E